The present invention relates to data storage, and more particularly, this invention relates to minimizing firmware revisions for physical data storage devices in a data storage system.
Currently, virtual tape servers, such as the IBM TS7700, include a disk cache subsystem which gets installed with a gamut of different physical disk drive media (DDM). This encompasses different physical drive types, capacities, manufacturers, rotational speeds, etc.
Due to the nature of virtual tape servers, if any number of DDMs are defective (e.g., suffering from faulty microcode, manufacturing problems, mechanical breakdown, etc.), the problem is not easily identifiable and/or avoidable once the DDM is installed in virtual tape system in the field.
All DDM firmware changes/updates are automatically installed during activation of the microcode used to communicate with each DDM. If a given DDM needs to be upgraded, the virtual tape server activation time window is greatly increased as opposed to an activation time window for a DDM which does not need microcode changes/updates. In order to conserve time and save money, all DDM firmware changes/updates should be kept at a minimum. Currently there is no solution yet implemented to identify problems before a user of the virtual tape server is impacted and new DDM firmware is absolutely required.